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AAA Caroliinas
Higher gas prices and the most congestion on the highways in the last 10 years are this year’s Christmas Grinch for South Carolina motorists.
Gas prices are up 40 cents statewide since last year and approaching $3 per gallon and highway travel is expected to increase 3 percent compared to last year, according to AAA Carolinas.
A record 93 percent of those traveling in the state are expected to drive to their destination.
This represents the busiest Christmas travel holiday for South Carolina roads on record.

The employment picture in Lancaster County may be looking brighter, as several local companies have plans to create hundreds of new jobs over the next year.
The county has been dogged for many months by a double-digit jobless rate that has consistently ranked the county in the top 10 for unemployment in South Carolina. In November, the county’s jobless rate increased to 15.0 percent, up from 14.2 percent in October, according to figures released Friday from the S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce.

A Lancaster man was attacked with a hammer during an attempted robbery last week.
Police officers found the 42-year-old Sara Drive resident bleeding profusely from his forehead and nose Friday after they responded to a burglary call, according to a Lancaster Police Department incident report.
A 20-year-old man, who also lives at the home, called police to report the attack. He led officers to the victim, who was sitting on the edge of a bed, the report said. Officers immediately called Lancaster County Emergency Medical Services, who took the victim to the hospital.

Mmmm, Mmmm. Yum.
Walk into Sylvia Hinson’s bakery in Elgin, and you might just say something like that.
The scent in the air is no Yankee Candle. It’s the real deal – freshly baked gingerbread cookies.
And there they are – neatly packed boxes of gingerbread men and women on shelves just to the right of the front door.
Hinson has been baking.
And baking.
And baking.
From the modest looks of this quaint cinderblock shop, you might not think its owner could ever be so busy. But in this case, looks deceive.

Nobody was saying much Tuesday about a major community outreach effort planned for today.
Several Lancaster County residents have been working together over the last few weeks to sponsor a lunch for anyone who wants to come. The lunch will be served today staring at 11 a.m. at 113 1/2 Pleasant Hill St., Lancaster.
The goal is to feed 1,000 people, said Brad Small, one of the organizers.
“This is open to anybody that finds out about it,” Small said. “Hopefully, we’ll have enough food to feed them.”

A Lancaster woman was robbed at gunpoint Monday night as she was walked into the Lancaster Bowling Center.
The robbery happened at about 7:32 p.m. as the woman was entering the bowling center at 1353 Lymon Reece Road. She told deputies that a man approached her, pulled out a revolver and demanded money.
After giving the man an undisclosed amount of cash, he ran behind the bowling alley, according to a sheriff’s office press release.

KERSHAW – Counterfeit money was found on a man after deputies arrested him for stealing money from a high school change machine Saturday.
Marcus Jerome Harris, 25, of 3600 Fork Hill Road, Kershaw, was arrested outside Andrew Jackson High School as sheriff’s deputies searched the grounds for a burglar.
Deputies had responded to the school at 10:49 a.m. after an alarm went off, according to a sheriff’s office incident report.

VAN WYCK – On Saturday, Christmas joy rained down on more than 50 residents of Van Wyck.
Despite cold and wet weather, Santa made his rounds of the community with helpers from the Van Wyck Health and Education Initiative, the Charlotte Road/Van Wyck Fire Department, the local community center and postmaster Betty George.
George began the holiday gift and food drive nine years ago for local residents in need. This year has been the largest effort ever, with 42 children and 18 seniors receiving food or presents.

The community continues to reach out to their neighbors in needs, though organizers of the Ward Faulkenberry Memorial Christmas Basket Fund say a lot more is needed to match last year’s pace.
The popular drive brought in close to $3,000 last week, bringing the total collected this year to $6,322.
The fund, sponsored by HOPE in Lancaster, collects donations that are used to buy food vouchers for less fortunate families in Lancaster County. Recipients can use the vouches at local grocery stores.

A state law has changed how funeral processions will operate in the county.
Lancaster County Sheriff Barry Faile realized the need for a change after reading an opinion from state Attorney General Henry McMaster.
In his opinion, McMaster said a funeral procession can disregard traffic signals and signs only when an officer is stationed in that intersection. If no officer is stationed there, then the procession must observe all traffic lights and signs.